Obama Wants to Move the Center Left

The president's liberal critics miss the bigger picture.

By

Matt Miller

Updated Feb. 24, 2009 11:59 p.m. ET

President Barack Obama is taking a beating from liberal critics who think his attempt to court Republican support is a political failure and a policy disaster. Yet this assault on Mr. Obama's bipartisan instinct is misguided and, ironically, threatens to undermine liberal goals.

The president has his eye on a bigger prize than winning a few Republican votes for his stimulus package or having a conservative in his cabinet. He aims to move the political center in America to the left, much as Ronald Reagan moved it to the...